Help Lizzie Out

Posting here has been a bit thin on the ground, hasn't it? I do apologize for that. I just can't seem to get my mojo going at the moment. I desperately need a blog fast in order to catch up on some housework. Thankfully that opportunity may very well present itself in the next couple of days.

Today I'm doing something a little different. The autism association in my state contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would be willing to have my name put down on a list for participants in a new 'caregiver mum' study done by a large city hospital. I said yes and was contacted last week by one of the researchers. The study involves filling out an extremely detailed diary of a 24 hour period, midnight to midnight, in 5 minute increments. The aim is to guage what amount of time, and at what intensity, my role as an 'autism carer' comes down to.

I have to be completely honest when I'm jotting down what I'm doing, so a big ol' chunk of 'computer time' is going to look rather conspicuous smack in the middle of the day, LOL, but I'm happy to help. For my trouble and time, I'm being paid $30, which is a nice little bonus.

I think by the end of the day I'll be a little surprised at how many different things I do get done and how long they take. The morning routine, for example, is second nature to me now - so much so that I hardly register I'm doing it. Yet writing it all down this morning really showed that I'm working harder than I would have thought :)

And now, a competition! There are no prizes. Just kudos, LOL.

I need to come up with a tagline for when the blog switches over to Wordpress. Okay, I don't need one, but I want one. Obviously the title itself will be "Lizzie's Home" but I need something in a subheader that exemplifies what this blog is all about - something that reflects 'home'. I've tried scouring my entire iPod playlist for an 'aha!' string of lyrics, tried looking on quote sites, tried coming up with something myself. I have a working subheader in mind but am open to (many more) suggestions. The only requirement (apart from the above) is that it be on the shorter side. No three sentence quotes. Humour is okay. Poignancy too. Not sappiness. Quirkiness okay, saccharin-sweetness not so much. If someone comes up with a spectacular example there may be a little something coming in the post (*wink*)

So Bloggityville residents, how would you describe Lizzie's Home?

P.S. I know I haven't been participating in my scheduled posts and I seem to have moved away somewhat from the 'homemaker' side of things in recent times. I have a whole notebook full of ideas for posts but I've been purposely holding back on those because of the whole new blog/fresh start thing. Rest assured once the admin is worked out on the new site (I've got my fingers crossed for a workable blog by the time the Ultimate Blog Party starts on the 7th), there'll be lots of homemaking stuff. So many ideas....

Cheers,
Lizzie

A Blogging Examination

Why do you blog?

Did you begin your blog as a public journal? To keep in touch with family and friends? Because there was a writer inside you screaming to get out?

And then, six to twelve months down the track, why did you keep going? Did you become addicted to every-man-and-his-dog's social networking system of choice? Burned a feed? Started subscribing to other feeds? Categorized your Google Reader page to reflect your sixteen neatly segmented 'blogging genres'? (Ahem).

Did you join forums to learn more about blogging? Have you ever moderated a forum specifically geared toward blogging?

Do you sign every email - even those to co-workers - with your blog's URL? Make up funny names for your kids to protect their safety online?

Were you hesitant to tell any 'real life' people about your deep, dark, blogging secret? Ever keep a folder in your Favourites entitled Stuff To Blog About? Ever have other folders called Interesting Stuff To Read Later, Link Love and Pending Comments/Tags/Memes?

Ever dream in HTML code?

Ever accidentally type in <br/> instead of hitting the return key when you're typing a letter in Word?

Have you ever tried to explain the appeal of blogging to a non-blogging spouse? Had them roll their eyes or make funny gagging sounds?

Have you ever spent more than twelve seconds looking for a blog template?

Have you stopped being surprised when you learn the other classroom mums have blogs as well? Have you ever asked for their URLs? Ever given yours out?

Have you ever agonized over the issue of blog advertising? Set up a review blog so it wouldn't clash with advertising you have on your main blog?

Ever come across a purist who is dead-against advertising?

Ever gone through a massive feed reader clean out? And felt guilty doing it?

Ever come across a situation online where you've felt bullied? 'Outed' from the clique?

Ever secretly wished you could nail a spot on a Top 100 list? Ever wondered how on earth the current top bloggers managed to get their spots?

Ever had unrealistic BFF daydreams about a Big Name Blogger? Ever idolized her/him?

Ever had to ask what an Alexa rank is?

Have you ever not done a '100 Things About Me' post?

Ever hosted a meme? Posted a Mr Linky?

Ever hosted a giveaway? Ever given yourself RSI? Ever cleaned out your bank account posting four pound books airmail clear across the globe?

Do you harbour covetous thoughts about a blogging neighbour's fantastically-groovy custom made template?

Do you turn on the computer even before the coffee is made in the mornings?

Does your heart sink when you notice your Feedburner widget thingamy indicates your subcribers dropped by more than a quarter overnight?

Do you check your page stats every single day, including chasing up unknown 'came froms' and keeping an eye on your 'popular posts'?

Ever decided the whole shebang has gotten out of hand? Ever contemplated removing your stat counter?

Ever contemplated a blog move? Ever registered your domain name? Ever decided that blogging is leisure and therefore the cost of web hosting should technically come out of the Leisure section of the household budget?

Do you get anxious when you can't be near a computer?

Ever worked out that there are better things in life to be worried about than how many comments your post did, or didn't get?

Ever felt that freedom?

Blogging is a nifty little activity. You make friends. You might even meet some fellow bloggers. You've probably got at least twenty fellow bloggers on your blog roll, right?

But blogging isn't the be-all and end-all. Take me, for example. I haven't got a clue what an Alexa rank is. I'm only very vaguely aware of how Technorati works. And while I'd like to be in a Top 100 list, I'm not holding my breath. I'd like to think folks come on over to Lizzie's Home to visit without pressure. Lots of flashy widgets in the sidebars distract me (okay, so I have a small flash thing linking to DH's photography, but hey - if we can't plug our own husbands, what's the point in blogging at all, LOL). And to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of blog advertising. Most of the time, I have no idea what I'm doing.

And that's plenty okay with me.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Seven Years? Really?

Seven years ago today, I walked down the aisle to meet my soon-to-be husband, with this song playing in the background:



Of course, what sticks most in my mind is the fact that the CD stopped playing right in the middle of what was meant to be a graceful hovering along the red carpet. It had to be restarted, meaning the rest of the walk was all out of sync and they had to cut the song halfway through when I finally made it to the altar!

And also, after many attempts and burnt fingers, we managed to light our 'hope candle', only to have it blow out mid-ceremony. A rather auspicious start!

Seven years is a decent stretch, huh? We've been through a complete shift in career, raising three children, several years worth of autism diagnosis, advocacy and day-to-day struggles, buying our first home, and losing two remaining grandparents and one parent. We almost didn't have a wedding - we'd originally tried to elope to Bali but hit there during the wet season and spent most of what was meant to be our 'honeymoon' up to our kneecaps in mud! And one year later, after we'd rescheduled, my father had a heart attack two weeks before the big day but amazingly was in adequate health to attend. So we've been pretty lucky :)

To the man who gave me my dream - happy anniversary hon :) ♥

Cheers,
Lizzie

Buzz

The big news of the day? Master J just got himself stung by a bee for the first time in his whole 9 years.

I'm tap, tap, tapping away at the keyboard and hear a screech so loud I thought the neighbour's cat had mauled another of our friendly visiting pigeons and left it where the kids could stand on it. Instead I see J clutching his neck like he'd been stabbed. I'm freaking out - at this point I didn't know what had happened and if you know anything about J, you'd know his reactions are understated rather than overstated. To hear any kind of pain response out of him means something pretty major. He vaguely mentioned being stung by something and a quick look in the vicinity turned up a bee dying a slow (and, I hope, painful) death in the grass.

None of the kids have ever been stung before and the last time I was stung was - um - something like 24 years ago so I was a bit rusty on my bee sting info. Google filled in the missing links. The stinger wasn't in the skin so that was cool and the swelling was pretty minor, around the level of a mosquito bite, but the sting was right on the side of his neck near all those scary major arteries, so we'll monitor him for the rest of the night and see how we go. Google Image also provided us answers to the question 'What if he's allergic?' as well - not pretty.

The funniest part of all of this (if I can say that without sounding like a horrid, horrid mother) was when J, upon seeing the bee dying on the ground, became convinced that he too would die. What would have taken two minutes to explain to a neuro-typical kid took the better part of half an hour, LOL.

No son, you won't die. But that nasty bee did, and it serves him right!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Outgrowin' The Digs

Okay, so I've decided to move on over to Wordpress. Everybody keeps telling me Wordpress is superior to Blogger, that you can do more. We'll see. I'm hoping to have at least something workable up by March 21st, my one-year Bloggiversary. I mean, I'd love to have something new to show off for The Ultimate Blog Party which launces on March 7th but I suspect that may be pushing things slightly.

At the moment I am having fun trying to create my own custom header. I thought I'd get the cool stuff out of the way first, then worry about whether stuff, you know, actually works. Oh, the joys of switching. Groan.

Hands up - who's on Wordpress? Anyone want to stand in as my mentor while I make the switch? As I'm currently working Lizzie's Home via Old Blogger (I used a template generator, which does not operate with New Blogger), I'm used to moving things around and changing the sidebars directly in the HTML code editor itself, rather than via a click-and-drag editor such as New Blogger, but I have no idea how this knowledge will help (or hinder!) me with Wordpress, LOL.

Advice (what you wish you'd known before you switched, tips and tricks, etc) GRATEFULLY accepted and publicly acknowledged, LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie

(Graphics credit Amreta's Graphic Corner)

I Love Me Some Free Stuff

I meant to post about this a few weeks ago but with the craziness that was getting ready for Hubs' exhibition I clean forgot.

During the Bloggy Giveaway I won a t-shirt from B*kindwear via Elaine at Blog In My Eye. I fired off an email to the kind folk at B*kind and our t-shirt arrived only a week or so later - not bad for shipping to the other side of the world!

I decided on a kid's size 'Kindness is Contagious' style rather than an adult version, mostly because they're just so darn cute. The above pic is Miss Moo having some silly fun modelling the end result ♥

Thanks Elaine!

Cheers,
Lizzie

I'm Probably Moving Over To The 'Dark Side'

With a probable blog-move on the horizon in the not-too-distant future, I've been thinking a lot lately about decluttering my little corner of Bloggityville.

First of all - and somewhat of a side point - hello? Wordpress theme designers? You all need to get some more of your free stuff out there, because I had the worst time trying to find something that wasn't utilitarian or masculine. Think about making your old personal themes available for public use when you design new digs for your own blog. That would help enormously. Thankyou and good night.

And now back to the broadcast.

I suspect the move will be significantly easier on the ol' nerves with a greatly-streamlined version of Lizzie's Home so I'm examining closely all my neatly segmented sections and deciding what stays, and what gets put out on the curb on trash day.

Then I got to thinking about streamlining my personal experiences in Bloggityville in general. As of 1:37pm today, I have 170 blogs in my feed reader. Now, I love me some Google Reader just like the next gal. It's so easy to trawl the net, stumbling across this blog or anything vaguely sporting an RSS, and whack it in the ol' Reader to peruse later. It's also madly convenient if you happen to be tapping away on someone else's computer. But having a 'personal investment' in so many blogs is ridiculous. I used to think 100 was too many. Now I'm going to have to do some serious un-subbing to get it back to the level it should be (which is way lower than 100, in case you were wondering). I just can't keep up. I'm noticing I don't get past the 'list view' (title plus the first line) window on 90% of the blogs I'm subscribed to. That's one big fat clue that I'm subbed to too many right there.

Then I started thinking about my time on the computer as a whole (I know, full of insight today, aren't I?) Fact is, I'm spending far too much time online and it shows. I need to right that balance and establish some clear guidelines for myself. At the moment, it's a bit like this:

Clearly, this is not a good thing.

How many blogs do you subscribe to? What are your criteria for subbing and un-subbing? One new one in means an old one has to go? I wait with anticipation.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Spam ~ It's Not Just In Cans

One of the more frustrating things about putting yourself 'out there' in Bloggityville is that inevitably, you're gonna end up being the target of spammers.

I think the recent speight of giveaways, and the multiple 'leaving email address' thing sparked it all off, but my Lizzie's Home email address has been positively inundated with emails from Irish and UK national lottery sites over the last two or three weeks - to the tune of several dozen a day (and this doesn't include the three or four 'widows with millions to deposit' emails). As I don't use this particular email for anything other than blogging, the only way I can figure this happened in the first place was that my email was 'lifted' from comments I've made on giveaway blog posts lately. Oftentimes, especially if (as a Blogger gal) I'm commenting on a post hosted on Wordpress or Typepad, I always include my email in my signature, just in case it doesn't show up. For the first half of the giveaways I entered I simply typed it out in full, complete with '@' and the 'dot' symbols. Duh. I wised up for the second half and wrote it lizzies-home(at)hotmail(dot)com, but I think the damage was already done by then. And yes, I've increased my spam filter as much as I can without making it 'address book only' (kind of silly when I need new blog readers to be able to get through) but the little suckers still manage to get through. What's up with that?

Hence the purpose of this post. I've opened a new email account. Clicking on the 'Email Lizzie' link at the top of the page will bring you through to the new one. If you've happened to communicate with me through lizzies-home(at)hotmail(dot)com in the past and may have saved that address in your address books, after maybe a month or so I will simply stop checking that addy and move solely to the new one. Does anyone know if you can physically delete a hotmail account? I know it goes inactive after a while, but it would be nice not to have to go play referee at all. I know the persistent spammers could simply click on the Email link themselves and hand-enter the addy into their little spambot whatsits, but I managed to avoid that prior to this recent commenting-on-giveaways run so I suspect it's not generally something they bother with. I'm no tecno-geek but there are bots or something which troll blog comments to lift full email addresses, right? Something like that anyway.

Has anyone else had an influx of spam email after the Bloggy Giveaways carnival?

Cheers,
Lizzie

If You Had To Put Together A Cookbook...

What recipes would you include, and why?

I posted my menu for the week yesterday and mentioned I was working on my Family Cookbook this week. Not that I need any more recipes to throw on top of my 'testing' pile, but I was curious about what all you lovely ladies considered the absolute bare basics recipes. It might be things that your mother or grandmother made, sweet or savoury, master mix or elaborate, everyday or special occasion. I'd love to get some suggestions, even if you don't have any specific recipes (though those would be awesome too) Just off the top of my head...

• A good beef casserole/stew recipe. One that actually works and consists of melt-in-the-mouth meat and lovely chunky vegetables (seriously, if anyone has one, swing it over to me. I have never been able to successfully do this. Sigh.)
• Various 'basic' cake batters - chocolate, vanilla, butter cake, etc.
• Pancakes
• Muffins
• Anything marinated which has always received big compliments at barbecues
• Anything kid-friendly, especially something 'whip-up-able'
• Cobblers/Crisps
• The recipe you instantly think of when you receive a potluck invitation
• Any signature dish, including those of your mother or grandmother
• Your own absolute favourite meal in the world (because you've obviously got a recipe for that, so pipe up!)

What I'm not looking for - 'cuisine' rather than 'cookery'. I'm a basics gal. This Family Cookbook project of mine will eventually, I hope, morph into something I can replicate for each of the children upon them moving out of home for the first time. At the moment I'm just collecting recipes, trying them several times, then adding them to the book. Later on, I'll begin taking photos of these meals and baking attempts and hand-writing in comments (I love old cookbooks where someone has scribbled in something like "Aunt Josie said this was just like Gamma used to make!" or "This is Daddy's favourite meal". There is so much history contained within the family kitchen :)

About two weeks ago I was browsing the cookbook section of a local bookstore and marvelling at volume after volume of 'specialist' cookbooks - those devoted solely to a single ingredient, or an exotic cuisine. I love those too but the ones I really get excited about are the good ol' fashioned 'country' recipes. You know, from back in the day when fat grams and kilojoules never mattered because everyone worked off the rib-sticking qualities of the food they ate. The stuff our mothers and grandmothers served up.

Feel free to throw your hat into the ring on this one!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Menu Plan Monday ~ February 18

This week I'm going to do something a little different. I've been sitting in a menu planning rut for - well, forever - so this week is hereby designated the Inaugural New Recipe Every Night Menu Plan :) Consequently my usual style of menu planning has gone out the window - this week is all about expanding my repertoire. It's a given I'll switch these around, so I am trying something new this week - gasp! I'm not going to assign a specific meal to a specific day. I know, crazy. I don't know how I'm going to cope. I'm thinking of starting up The Reformed "If It's Monday..." Menu Planner Association. Come join me! :P

All recipes are brand new, never-been-tried-before, including the baking. Most are sourced from magazines but a few are online recipes. This is also the week that Hubs is working afternoon shift, so it's just me and the kids. Perhaps I should call this the Kids Rule Menu Plan? :P I really need to up the ante on the 'just the kids and I' meals as I've been far too lazy in this area lately. I'm really trying to find recipes which the kids will find interesting. Perhaps even begin collecting recipes for this specific week in Hubs' schedule.

Note: Aussies might recognise many of these recipes from Recipes+ magazine's Jan/Feb issue :)

1. Ham Patties (these look a bit like little hamburger or lentil patties but have ham, vegetables and egg in them, almost like a little quiche shaped like a hockey puck - the kids will love the 'dip-ability'. Served with cheesy macaroni)
2. Fish Finger Pockets (think pita pockets stuffed with fish fingers (fish sticks?), and loads of vegetables)
3. Dippy Doo (carrots, celery, capsicum (bell pepper), hard-boiled egg, lightly steamed broccoli and cauliflower, plus whatever else I can drum up on the night and a peanut dipping sauce - again, another one the kids will go crazy for :)
4. Herb Cobbler Casserole (a 'ramped up' bolognaise sauce with a herb dumpling crust and served with vegies)
5. Egg Men (split wholemeal english muffins topped with a scrambled egg/cheese/mustard mixture and facial features made from chopped up vegies - alfalfa for hair, strip of capsicum (bell pepper) for mouth, and so on)
6. Cornish Pasties (served with salad)
7. Mini Pizzas (using a new quick pizza dough)

Baking This Week ~

Apple & Pecan Slice, Refridgerator Slice, Savoury Texas Muffins, Banana & Raspberry Bread (later in the week when the bananas get mushy - I have some frozen raspberries to use up too) and Cheddar & Chive Wafers.

Yummo! With the baking, I'm going to try to bake a little something most days this week, just to get the stock up for the freezer. I don't usually try to sustain this level of Martha-ness though power to all you gals who can! I highly doubt the Refridgerator Slice will last long enough to worry about storage, LOL, and the wafers can be stored in a jar in the pantry. I've been looking for a 'make your own cracker' type recipe as I include some in the kids' lunchboxes each day and wasn't happy with the commercial type.

I'm also working on our Family Cookbook this week and hope to have a post up about how to create your own sometime before the end of the month.

Chop chop!

For more Menu Plan Monday folk, stop on by I'm An Organizing Junkie. And drool at everyone else's menu :P

Cheers,
Lizzie

Grocery Sales ~ I Live For Them

Grocery shopping in Lizzie's Home generally happens on Mondays. This week, I'll be shopping on Tuesday. I'm still dragging my feet after our week away :P

Let's take a look at my local grocery catalogues for this week (for my overseas readers, this will give you an idea of Aussie prices - don't fall over in shock, okay?) . I only note the sale prices of items I actually buy. Cans of tuna will never, ever make it into my cart, no matter how good the discount! Blech!

Main Supermarket

• Quilton 3-ply toilet paper, 24pk, $11.99/50¢ per roll (save $2.50 - usually $14.49/60¢ per roll)
• Lipton Black Teabags, 100pk, 2 for $5.00/2.5¢ per teabag (save $2.38 - 2 x 100pk usually $7.38/3.7¢ per teabag - though I usually wait for the 100pk to be $3 or under, making it about 3¢ per bag, so I'm saving money either way)
• Green's Traditional cake mixes, $1.75 ea (save 50¢ - each mix gives twelve slices of cake or twelve cupcakes so approx 14.5¢ per serve on sale/18¾¢ per serve reg price) I don't buy these often but they're a great, cheap standby for unexpected guests or the kids' lunchboxes.
• San Remo pasta, 500g (1.1 lbs), $1.89 (save 30¢) I have plenty of pasta already but it stores so beautifully and is so cheap, I'll probably pick up another couple of packages.
• Yoplait yoghurt, 1kg (2.2 lbs), $3.98 (save 70¢)
• Middle bacon, $8.78 per kg (2.2 lbs - save $4.97 kg)
• Hungarian salami, $15.95 per kg (save $6.03 kg) Hubs likes to have this in his sandwiches so I pick up a little whenever it goes on special.
• Semi-dried tomatoes, $17.98 per kg (save $3.00 kg) A bit pricey, but I love them. And I only use a teensy amount at a time.
• 'Premium' beef mince (ground beef), $8.95 per kg (save $3.04 kg). This is the stuff that's one step down from super-lean. We go through a lot of mince because it's so economical and kid-friendly. I'll probably buy 2 or more kilograms this week and stick the extra in the freezer.
• Beef round steak, $10.96 per kg (save $6.03 kg) About 600g or so (something like 1.3 lbs?), along with some potatoes, carrots and other fixin's, makes a good beef stew.
• Seedless white grapes, $3.74 per kg. Being that fruit and vegetable prices change so rapidly, this particular store almost never includes a 'save' amount in the catalogue. But this is a reasonable price. The kids like these in their lunchboxes.
• Celery, $1.83 per bunch.

Other Stores

• Tomatoes, $1.99 per kg (2.2 lbs, save $2.00 - this store does have a base price to compare it to)
• Cottee's cordial, 2 litre/half gallon, $2.59 (this store isn't showing a 'save' either - very frustrating for those not up to speed on their Price Books, auugh - but it usually goes for over $4). We use this sparingly and always, always, far more diluted than the instructions suggest.
• Carrots, 1kg (1.1 lb) bag, 99¢ - usually around $1.30
• Loose white potatoes, $1.99 per kg - usual price varies but a medium to large prepacked bag can get up over $5
• Brown onions, 1 kg (1.1 lb) bag, $1.99 - fair price
• Trix dishwashing liquid, 1 ltr (half-gallon), $1.99 - save about 70¢
• Lynx body spray, 100g/3½ oz, $4.79 (save about $1.80)
• Broccoli, per kg (1.1 lb), $2.89

Looks like beef stew, quiche (with the purchase of some eggs) and spaghetti (with the purchase of some pasta sauce) is in our future :)

What else could be made from the above food items?

Cheers,
Lizzie

Eyes On Stalks

We've had a seriously MASSIVE few days.

We returned this evening from five days away, setting up, holding, and dealing with the aftermath of Hubs' first photography exhibition. This afternoon we drove for five hours, returning home around the kids' bedtime. Then we still had to give the kids baths and right this second, at 11:30 pm, I still haven't prepped for school tomorrow. It's been a really, really long day.

So here's the bullety version of the last few days. Details to come tomorrow.

• We arrived Wednesday at around lunchtime.
• Wednesday afternoon and evening and all day Thursday was dedicated soley to the cutting of matts. Lots and lots of them. And cleaning frames. And panicking. Lots and lots of panicking.
• Thursday afternoon Hubs and his co-exhibitor began setting up in the gallery.
• Thursday evening we spent three hours attaching hooks to the backs of the images.
• Friday was completely consumed with all the little 'bits and pieces' jobs that needed to be done.
• Friday night - AWESOME. Opening night was fantastic, the gallery looked wonderful, and Hubs managed to get through his speech without fainting although he did require notes. Oh, and I clapped hard enough to spill my drink on the floor with eveyone watching. Mental note: put down drink before rapidly moving both hands next time.
• Friday, post-exhibition - there could have been one or twelve celebratory drinks involved. There may have been one or twelve remorseful moments thereafter. But not from me. No sirree. I'm dainty.

Sunday morning was spent recovering from Saturday which was spent recovering from Friday night, which was the culmination of several months worth of work.

End result? One heck of a memorable week.

Bonus end result? In the two days since opening night we've had several sales totalling nearly $700, and tons of interest. The exhibition is on for another five weeks or so. This thing of ours might actually work.

Plus, I'm so proud of Hubs. He totally deserves it. We spent most of the trip home bouncing marketing ideas of one another.

And now I must slip into the kitchen to rustle up something for tomorrow's school lunches.

Yeah, at midnight. I'm wacky like that. And also, hopped up on the icypole (popsicle) I just downed. Because I'm beat. And sugar helps. I know, crazy.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Popping In...

I did mean to set auto-posts for while we were away. Honest. I just never looked at the reminder note I stuck to the laptop lid. Sorry!

We're away this week (until Sunday night our time, anyway) for Hubs' photography exhibition. On Wednesday we were out of the door and driving by 7:30 am (unheard of). Five hours later (auugh) we arrived, exhausted, at a relative's house in the town where the exhibition is being held. Which is TONIGHT. Hubs is completely frantic! He and his co-exhibitor spent Wednesday night and all day Thursday matting and framing 80+ full size prints. Last night we secured a key to the gallery and began setting up - my job was moral support, of course, and putting sticky-hook things on the backs of each image so they'll hang on the walls. When we left at 12:30 am last night (this morning?) it looked AWESOME, and that was with half of the prints still leaning against the wall. Things have really come together and I'm completely and utterly proud of Hubs. It has been a lot of work (and a lot of expense, some of which we're hoping to recoup in the next few weeks!) but I'm thrilled for him. And as I said to him last night, I know that when I have to bind 3000+ self-published novels myself, he'll be right there next to me.

I think that scared him, LOL.

We're using this exhibition to guage response to his work. It's really the first time he's publicly displayed his images and, as is his nature, he's worried that he's not good enough. Piffle! From there, we will probably do more exhibitions and (hopefully) move into private sales over the internet and at various arts fairs and markets in our area, as our schedules allow. His photographic greeting cards, which were finally delivered last week after a month's delay (grrr...but phew!), look great, so I'm hoping to go 'live' with sales of those here on Lizzie's Home in the next month or so. Nothing too major, just a little box in the sidebar. He'll be famous one day. There's your heads up folks!

The guys are down at the gallery right now finishing the setting up. There are a few other things to do today, then the opening is scheduled for 6:30 tonight. So far the numbers are sitting around 100, which includes people from the local council down here and we know of at least two arts governing bodies who are going to be going through the gallery at some point during the next six weeks. We've been SO fortunate because our co-exhibitor is a local and has contacts absolutely everywhere within the local government. We simply could not have brought something like this together without his knowledge and help.

So. Things are moving along. I hope to post a few pictures early next week, after we get home - show all you nice folk how the gallery looks, LOL.

Right now, I have to go panic. Purely out of sympathy for my husband, of course.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Lizzie's Link Love ~ February 12

Good morning Bloggityville!

Lots of awesomeness this week. Let's get stuck into it, in no particular order.

Cindy's Porch ~ If you haven't yet discovered this site, you simply must. Must, I tell you! It has parallels to Flylady but concentrates on home finances, saving money, emergency funds and so on. You can sign up for emails, similar to Flylady, but instead of 15 or 20 daily reminders you might get one email every day or two. Always financially relevant (Sidenote: I believe Cindy used to work with Flylady several years ago but branched out on her own - you'll notice several similarities, including frequent acronym use, LOL)

A Strong Man With Deep Convictions ~ by Mrs Julie Fink from Living By Grace. What a beautiful and devoted description! And I stumbled across it at just the right moment, too.

MapMyRun ~ I think this was posted on another site and I just followed the link. It's worth revisiting it though. Though aimed at runners, walkers like me will find something useful here too. Members of the public can map out run routes, submit them and then folks like me down here in Australia (or anywhere else for that matter), can type in something like 'New York' and a big long list of different routes pops up on screen. Isn't that cool? I found one near me (won't post that one though). You can also view these in Google Earth, keep fitness logs - even info on shoe mileage. Okay, so I'm no runner, but I thought this was neat for the bird's eye view of any number of fictional walking tracks I could set up. I could 'walk' a three mile track in the Mall in Washington DC right from the comfort of my local neighborhood :P Of course, I haven't a clue what the mall in DC actually looks like, but hey, I could be walking it!

A Job Chart That Actually Works ~ MeckMom is a gal after my own heart. I love her charts and organising ideas! This one is especially ingenius. If you haven't yet discovered this site, spend time browsing the archives. I ♥ MeckMom :P

MomsMenu ~ a family cooking recipe database and tips/articles archive. Real food. Not, you know, braised artichoke hearts in a balsamic-glazed truffle sauce. Blech. Unless you like that kind of food. In which case, power to you. Me? Not so much. I need all the family-friendly recipes my hard drive will hold.

And to finish:

This is just plain weird. Or sad. Or sick. I can't decide which. Kind of falls into this category for me. Which in turn reminds me of the whole Angelina Jolie/vial of blood thing. Shudder.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Souper Dooper?

We're in an uncharacteristic-for-February cool stretch where I am at the moment, and for the last couple of days I've had to crack open the canned soups for some hot lunches. When you're used to battling 40ºC (100ºF plus) summer days the last thing you feel like is hot soup, but with the lower temperatures, even though they might not last much longer (it is still summer here, even if this week feels like mid-late Autumn), I'm thinking ahead to expanding my list of 'fallback soups'.

I'm after a hearty vegetable soup recipe - something with lots of chunks and a really flavoursome broth - can anyone help me out?

Cheers,
Lizzie

What Was I Thinking???

I gave up chocolate for Lent. It's more of an experiment really. I wanted to see if I could deny myself the one thing that gives me an unconditional emotional kickback for the whole '40 days'. I'm not ultra-traditional so I've never been a pracising Lentee before, but I thought to myself at midnight Tuesday, with no preparation or withdrawal whatsoever, hey, I think I'll give up my favourite thing in the whole world tomorrow. Shoot me. Shoot me now.

Do you know how HARD it is to avoid chocolate? I'm seeing it everywhere! Every checkout at the supermarket has it. The smell of it somehow manages to permeate the entire food court in my local suburban shopping centre (what are they doing? Serving up Fried Chocolate Burgers? Now there's an idea...) There are easter eggs on the shelves already! And they were giving away samples of Cadbury Creme eggs when I tried to do some innocent grocery shopping last night! I had to say no to free chocolate! Help!

I buy my meat and produce from the 'market area' of the shopping centre and both shopfronts are within eyesight of not one, but TWO specialty chocolate stores. I have to smell the awesomeness that is hot roasted nuts and sweet, sweet cocoa-ey nectar while I'm bagging up, you know, broccoli or something. And let me tell you, I was a regular at that particular nuts/chocolate store. To the point of having a 'usual' order. To the point of, one day, having my order already bagged and waiting for me when I reached the counter because the ladies had recognised me from clear across the walkway. To the point of running into one of these Purveyors of Bliss in the ladies restroom and having her express concern for my recent lack of chocolate buying! I have a feeling I'm putting this woman's children through school...

Today marks Day 3 of Sans Choc 2008 (Lent began on Wednesday). It's not like my avoidance of chocolate has actually yielded any results on the badonk-a-donk field - trust me, I'm making up for my missing intravenous cocoa injections with other sugary treats - but a gal can only concentrate on sawing off one leg at a time, you know?

And also, could somebody PLEASE explain to me why, why, WHY I did this when Valentine's Day and our wedding anniversary are both this month??? For that matter, why those Roman martyrs happened to get all, well, martyr-y in February. Why not June? Nothing much happens in June! I could eat Valentine's chocolates in June! Of course this doesn't explain Hubs and my choice to get married (the other main chocolate-eating event on my calendar at least!) in late February, but we'll gloss over that point. And also, Chaucer has a lot to answer for - he was the first to connect love with Valentine's Day in 1382, thus sealing the much-maligned fate of men the world over. There you go men, blame the comically Middle Ages-spelling Chaucer :P

But back to the point...

Chocolate or its derivitives are in just about every one of my favourite comfort foods. Where do you draw the line? Does the ban apply to just chocolate bars? Can I have chocolate pudding? What about hot chocolate? Is it okay to snort the sprinkled cocoa on my cappucino? Sob.

To compensate for the 'can I have....' questions, I've gone - shudder - cold turkey. For a gal that usually eats/drinks chocolate in one form or another every single day, three days on the clock is actually a pretty good record. I also haven't had any fizzy drinks in that long also, although that's nowhere near the addiction chocolate is. It's amazing though, how often a soft drink (soda) kind of sneaks into your everyday eating. Just about all the 'value meals' include soft drinks. I actually had a girl faintly snigger when I requested a bottle of water to go with my Big Mac - you know, kind of like that old joke - "I'll have a large Big Mac meal, two cheeseburgers, and a chocolate sundae...but make my drink a diet Coke because I'm watching my weight." No, I didn't order all that, LOL. But hey, paper-hat wearing "I know everything because I'm a teenager" serving person? Don't judge me! Not everyone who chooses water is trying to lose weight!

Three days down, 42 to go. Yeah, that's another thing about Lent - it's forty days not counting Sundays!

Cheers,
Lizzie

Quick Lenten Question

Do you observe Lent? Do you go traditional and give up meat (and sometimes dairy) or do you give up a different food vice? Do you concentrate on something non-food?

Ash Wednesday (and therefore Lent) is this week. I'd love to hear if you're giving something up!

Cheers,
Lizzie

You Know You're Unfit When...

You start sweating before you've even taken the cellophane off the new exercise DVD!

I bought this DVD before Christmas on an impulse. I promptly stuck it in my drawer where it continued to mock me whenever I reached for the unmentionables. I finally got sick of the smug look on Miss Freytag's face so I put her little torture device into the DVD player.

This is NOT a hard workout. But Oh. My. Goodness.

I'd came prepared. I had on my industrial-strength sports bra, plus a sporty crop top. Those babies were strapped in. I waited until everyone had left for work or school. And then I procrastinated for an hour with the cover mocking me from the bench. And then I just did it.

I'm more than a little unfit, sure. I'll own that. And the sight of me prancing about our loungeroom would have been a surefire YouTube classic. By the third or fourth circuit (there are six 'circuits' in all, each lasting around 6 mins, hence the 3, 2, 1 thing) I was staring longingly for the door leading to the kitchen...and all the food...saliva forming at the corner of my mouth :P

And my feet! They simply would not co-operate. Box steps? Shashaying? Yeah right!

But I kept going. And when my glutes were screaming for mercy and I was bathed in a river of sweat, the workout ended and I curled up in the fetal position on the loungeroom floor and shook violently.

As workouts go, it was actually very easy - I'm just horribly out of practice and naturally unco-ordinated, LOL. The instructor's had two 'helpers', one of whom did low-intensity beginners modifications of all the routines and one that did high-intensity. So that was a nice touch. And though the instructor was ridiculously buff (in a nice, girly way), she was at least better in the sincerity stakes than a lot of other exercise workouts I've watched.

But the most important thing? I exercised.

And I didn't die, LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Meme Madness ~ Music

I came across a neat little music meme on Enjoy The Journey and I'm in the mood for something a little lighter today, just like Lindsey, so here goes.

On my iPod - my 'sixth' child, after the three real ones, then the dishwasher and my laptop, LOL - I have playlists such as Walking, Romantic, Mellow, Country Rock and various artist-specific ones. I usually don't so much get the urge to listen to a particular artist, as I do to a particular style of music. For example, the songs in the Walking playlist are all jumpy and upbeat - great housework songs, by the way - and those in the Country Rock playlist help me heal when my cat gets run over by my best friend's boyfriend.....I'm kidding! LOL.

Disclaimer: I make no apologies for my very obvious weepy music taste! If you scroll right down to the bottom of the page, you'll see a glimpse of the types of movies I enjoy. 'Nuff said! Also, this is the list today. Next week it could be an entirely different list :P

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The song that makes me want to sing: Mine All Mine (SheDaisy - from the Sweet Home Alabama soundtrack). I can trill with the best of 'em baby!

The song that makes me smile: Mr Mom (Lonestar) Oh, this one cracks me up every single time! It's also a great vacuuming song, LOL.

My chill out song: Crazy Love (Aaron Neville - from the Phenomenon soundtrack). I can imagine husband, wine and good food being a part of a night with this song. Of course, Hubs' tastes run a little less - ahem - mainstream, LOL.

The song that makes me want to dance: Depends on what kind of dancing! I've never been much of a dancer but certain songs appeal because of their beats, hence Superstar (Jamelia)

Favorite song for the kids: The kids have moved past that 'Wiggles' stage and on to 'real' music, so this one is a bit more tricky. They do go absolutely nuts for anything on the Shrek/other children's movie soundtracks though, including Accidentally In Love (Counting Crows), I Like To Move It (Madagascar soundtrack) and Master J does a mean rendition of I Need A Hero (Jennifer Saunders/Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2) which always has us in stitches. This is the same kid who is currently in hog-heaven now that this show is on TV :)

The song that moves me and makes me think: I can't narrow this down, so here are a few. I Can Only Imagine (Mercy Me), Love Alone (Caedmon's Call), Carried To The Table (Leeland), and For The Love Of A Woman (Martina McBride). I always see Dick and Rick Hoyt when I hear I Can Only Imagine because of this. *Sniffle!*

The song I feel guilty liking: Anything For You (Lee Harding). Lee was one of the Top 12 in Australian Idol a few years back. His career was short lived. But this song just can't seem to get off my iPod. Something about the beat I think. Yeah, that's the story I'll go with...

The song that makes me think of my parents: We played Fly (Celine Dion) at Mum's funeral in May '06 :( Dad is a Vietnam veteran and there's an iconic Australian song called I Was Only Nineteen (Redgum) which has become the unofficial 'anthem' for Australian Vietnam veterans over the last couple of decades.

The song that makes me think of my hubby: Our wedding song, I'll Always Be Right There (Bryan Adams). But not just any version. No, it has to be from the Unplugged album (hence live and acoustic :) I walked down the 'aisle' (down some steps and around the corner of an old winery) to this song. Sigh.

The song that always makes me cry and smile at the same time: Gosh, this one is hard. It's probably a tie between In My Daughter's Eyes (Martina McBride) and There Goes My Life (Kenny Chesney) *sniff, sniff*

The song you'd be most surprised to find on my iPod: I have a whole playlist dedicated to the - shhhhhh! - Backstreet Boys. Any one of those songs pretty much scoops the pool, LOL.

The song with the most awesome beat: Say It Right (Nelly Furtado). Makes me want to belly dance! Also, Something Beautiful (Newsboys) has a really fun, upbeat tune - great for walking :)

The song I could listen to while driving coast-to-coast with the top down: Coast to coast (at least east to west coast) in Australia is a really, really long way, LOL. You'd have to play something iconically Aussie, like Touch or Take Me Back (both Noiseworks). I didn't really get into music until it was the nineties (pre-teen through to the end of teens for me) so this was just a tad before my time (*wink*) but when a song is done right it can surpass normal age boundaries, LOL. Plus I had older siblings, so...

Favorite song from a movie: I'm such a sap. I 'overdid' the movie Jerry Maguire when it first came out in, what was it? 1996 or 1997? Anyway, I loved it to death at the time and now I can't stand it. But Secret Garden (Bruce Springsteen) is just lovely :) And most of the contemporary romantic comedies down at the bottom of this page have a corresponding song on my iPod too...

What would be my workout song if I actually worked out: They're very 'Good Charlotte/Simple Plan' but I don't mind me a bit of Dance Inside (All-American Rejects). There are heaps of songs that overlap in my collection though - 'coolest beat' and 'makes me want to dance' songs totally fit into this category as well. Although I call them Housework Songs, LOL.

My favorite "fun" song that is really just a stupid song: I get a giggle out of the kids' favourites from the Dreamworks/Disney/Pixar flicks. I Like To Move It is hilarious when you imagine a lemur singing it!

The song I want at my funeral: Hubs thinks it is totally morbid that I have one several of these! The Scientist (Coldplay) and In The Arms Of An Angel (Sarah McLachlan) are the two main ones, but then there are probably a dozen others that I want to 'leave' for my kids as special messages. In My Daughter's Eyes and There Goes My Life are two of them (see above) but I also have I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack) and I'm Already There (Lonestar) on my list.

My love makin' song: Ahem. Nothing very obvious - anything that puts me in a romantic mood!

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Oh, that was fun - finding the songs on the computer and having me a little concert right here at the dining room table, LOL.

Hat tip to Lindsey - and pass the meme around folks!

Cheers,
Lizzie

And We Have A Winner! Actually We Have Three Of Them!

Drum roll! The winners have been randomly chosen!

The International-Only giveaway (the homeschooling book) goes to Sarah from Toddler World.

The Australian-Only giveaway (the cookbook) goes to Lightening from, funnily enough, Lightening.

The Open-To-All giveaway (the scrapbooking supplies) goes to new blogger LaughNLove.

The scrapbooking stuff was by FAR the most popular at 120 entries and it is with a certain degree of irony that it was won by what appears to be the only male entry!

Congratulations to all of the winners - this was a BLAST to participate in and I'm already thinking of stuff for the next round of giveaways in three months :)

Cheers,
Lizzie